Monday, August 30, 2010

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 2: France

After a few days of mooching off my brother in Amsterdam, I headed to France to spend a few days in Normandy to do a D-day tour and go to a friend's wedding, then one day in Paris, just because I could. Note to self: Marry a Frenchie. They throw awesome weddings and they have the best wine and cheese.

This is actually the key to our hotel room in Bayeux. How cool is that?

This is seriously what it looks like when you walk around in Bayeux. I think that's just someone's house. One night we were just out wandering around, and out of nowhere this choir showed up and started singing. It is bizarre and magical and beautiful. Also, we were pretty drunk, but it really did seem like magic.

Again, wine makes things funnier, but my friend Susan bought these and then pointed out, "Ok, so does anyone else notice that these are called 'Fingers' and it looks like the package says, 'Fondle'?" Best cookies ever.

If you were a D-Day soldier, you would know that this is the map of where all of the attacks had to happen. I can't make any sense of it, and it was explained to me in detail. It's amazing what people are capable of. This is on the wall of a memorial that will break your heart and make you cry, but if you ever get the chance, you should still go.

Barbed wire on a beach. War is bad, boys and girls. Don't ever let anyone tell you anything different.

Bomb craters. But there's still vegetation. It's like Mother Nature was like, "OW! Whatever, I'm still gonna grow some trees."

Once we were done with the good times in Bayeux, we headed to Caen for the wedding. (Not to be confused with Cannes.) Instead of a rehearsal dinner, the lovely French family invited the visiting Americans over for wine and cheese. And they SO delivered on that promise. They had a ginormous cherry tree in their backyard, so the evening obviously devolved into a pit spitting contest. See those mad skills? I kicked Blaire's ass.

I mean, really. If you're going to get married in France, this is totally the kind of place where it needs to happen. Am I right?

After the wedding, we had a 4th of July picnic (in France. It was strange, but so nice.) then it was off to Paris! We got there, went out to dinner, then went for a little walk. Oh that? Yeah, that's me hanging out in front of Notre Dame. On a bridge over the Seine. Beautiful, right? (Beautiful, gorgeous, wish you were here!) Except that when I look at this picture, all I can think is, "That stupid bitch has no idea what's about to happen to her." Yeah, don't eat the escargot at the place down the street from my hotel. (What? I was in France! When in France...) I have never been so sick in my life. I honestly wasn't sure I was going to make it out alive. I had a whole lot of crazy brain lying on the bathroom floor of my hotel room, but I did make it. AND! I didn't need to do a post-France diet, so there's a plus. On the downside, I missed a huge chunk of my one day in Paris.

BUT! How funny is this chair? It's so tiny! Why bother even putting it into a hotel room? Is it for little people?

SOTD: Nothin' on You by B.o.B. and Bruno Mars. This song was stuck in my head the whole time I was in France. Why? Not sure. Although, it was a tie between this and the song from Beauty and the Beast that starts with them saying "Bonjour!" over and over again.